As the police investigation advances, Lizzie’s maid Patience Crabstick and the jeweler Benjamin are implicated in the robbery, while Lizzie herself faces the possibility that her original false account of the first theft will be exposed and loses the confidence of nearly everyone around her. Lord George abandons her in disgust, and Frank finally turns away from Lizzie and returns to Lucy, the woman he has truly loved all along, while Lucinda collapses under the terrible pressure of being forced toward marriage with Sir Griffin. Lizzie is compelled to reveal enough of the truth to assist the prosecution of the criminals and thereby avoids severe punishment herself, but the diamonds are never recovered and the social reputation she tried so hard to preserve is badly damaged. Frank and Lucy finally marry, whereas Lizzie returns to Portray and accepts the proposal of the opportunistic clergyman Mr Emilius, bringing the story of the diamonds to a satirical conclusion about deception, greed, love, money, and respectability.
